House Republicans will take 'appropriate measures' to discipline Democrats for gun-control sit-in

House Republicans will take “appropriate measures” to discipline
Democrats who participated in a June gun-control "sit-in,"
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday.

"Are you going to let the House stand with that behavior going
forward?" McCarthy, a Republican from California, rhetorically asked reporters. "I think
you'd create real damage to the House going forward, in the long
term."

McCarthy said “a number of rules” were broken when House
Democrats staged a 25-hour sit-in on the lower
chamber’s floor demanding a vote on gun control.

Drew Hammill, spokesman for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi,
told BuzzFeed it was “absurd” to say the
sit-in violated House rules.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said in June he was talking with the body's
sergeant-at-arms and parliamentarians to review options on how to
address the sit-in.

Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, chairman of the House Rules Committee,
previously said that the Democrats who staged
the unprecedented move should be "held accountable" for their
actions.

The sit-in was characterized at the time by Ryan and other
Republicans as a “publicity stunt” aimed at helping Democrats
fundraise. The speaker said Democrats had allowed the House to
descend into "chaos" and argued that it "sets a very dangerous
precedent."

"One of the things that makes our country strong is our
institutions," Ryan said. "No matter how bad things get in this
country, we have a basic structure that ensures a functioning
democracy. We can disagree on policy. But we do so within the
bounds of order and respect for the system. Otherwise, it all
falls apart."